A delicious salad that would make a great lunch or as a lighter side to a juicy steak or roast, rather than the usual roasted vegetables.
Fun fact: I think potatoes have had a bit of a bad rap with their high GI. However, if you dry cook potatoes (ie roasted vs boiled) and also allow them to cool, their GI actually lowers. It has to do with the effort your body has to expend to digest foods and increasing their resistant starch. I won’t go into the details – you can do more research if you want, here is a nice quick reference if you’re interested.
Keep the potato skins on for added nutrition. The skins have B vitamins, vitamin C, iron, calcium, potassium and also provides lots of fibre. Be sure to wash the potato well and remove any obvious blemishes before cooking.
Ingredients serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side
- 750 g new potatoes or if using larger ones, select a waxy variety, like the red potato, so they “hold together” when you mix them
- *optional – rosemary
- 4 rashers of streaky bacon
- 1 bunch of spinach leaves
- 1 clove garlic – skin on
- 2 tbls red wine vinegar
- 1 tbls dijon mustard
- 3 tbls olive oil (see note below)
- *optional – squirt of mayonnaise
- Good handful of grated fresh parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper
Method
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F
- Place the potatoes in a baking tray
- Drizzle olive oil and season with salt and pepper and rosemary if you have it
- Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes
- Pop your clove of garlic in with the potatoes 10 minutes before they have to come out
- COOL YOUR POTATOES TO ROOM TEMPERATURE
- Blanch the spinach leaves until wilted, drain and squeeze out as much liquid as you can – you don’t want a soggy salad !
- Pan-fry or microwave the bacon till their nice and crispy
- Make your dressing
- Remove the skin from the garlic and either mince/mash into a jar with a tight fitting lid
- Add the red wine vinegar, mustard, oil, mayonnaise (the mayonnaise makes the dressing a teeny bit creamier – use as much or as little as you like but add that in a little at a time until you get the desired consistency
- Pop the lid on and shake well to mix
- Add the cooled potatoes, spinach, crumbled bacon to a large bowl
- Dress lightly – you want the dressing to just coat the potatoes, not be gluggy
- Top with grated parmesan and mix again
- Season with salt and pepper to taste
NOTE: I think anchovies are one of the best things in the world, and always have a big jar of marinated anchovies in my fridge. When cooked they don’t smell too fishy, they melt into the sauce and add a complex savoury note to whatever dish you are making. With this dish, instead of using plain olive oil, I used the anchovy oil. You’ll need to make sure you taste the final dressing and dish before you season with salt so it’s not too salty.